Oklahoma women tempered by tough schedule

OU tempered by scheduleTough games helped Sooners save their season

Published 5:30 am, Sunday, April 4, 2010

SAN ANTONIO — To some, this is the undercard. The preliminary to the main event.

There's no Brittney Griner and her 6 feet, 8 inches of intimidation. No Connecticut, no first-team All-Americans. No 76-game winning streak.

But the OU-Stanford game boasts its share of story lines, too.

The Sooners (27-10), who have been to three Final Fours — including 2002 when they lost to UConn in the national final at the Alamodome — are the surprise team.

Not much was expected from them after they lost to Louisville at a Final Four semifinal a year ago. The Paris twins, Courtney and Ashley, graduated. And then five games into the season they lost 2009 Big 12 Freshman of the Year Whitney Hand to a season-ending knee injury.

OU regrouped enough to finish tied for second in the conference, then got on a roll in the NCAA Tournament. The Sooners were at their best at the Kansas City Regional where, as the No. 3 seed, they outlasted No. 2 Notre Dame in overtime and blew out No. 4 Kentucky.

Danielle Robinson said OU's tough schedule — the Sooners played three teams this season that wound up being No. 1 seeds in the Tournament — has paid off.

“We've faced all different kinds of teams, all different kinds of styles,” said Robinson, a California native who considered playing for Stanford. “It's given us an opportunity to experience a lot.”

Stanford (35-1) is making its third consecutive Final Four appearance.

After routing their first three Tournament opponents, the Cardinal needed an end-to-end buzzer-beating layup by junior guard Jeanette Pohlen to beat Xavier in the Sacramento Regional final.

Stanford has won 26 straight since losing to UConn by 12 on Dec. 23. Their leading scorer is 6-2 junior Nnemkadi Ogwumike (18.2 ppg) from Cypress.

“There are probably more similarities than differences between our two teams,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “It should be a great matchup.”